FORMER PROSECUTOR TURNS HIS ATTENTION TO SUBSTANCE ABUSE

As a Bee County prosecutor, Jay Kimbrough said he was in "the
deconstruction business," bringing people to trial and sending them to prison.

Many that he convicted had problems with drug and alcohol abuse, the
executive director of the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse said
Thursday night at the annual dinner of the East Texas Council on Alcoholism
and Drug Abuse.

That's why Kimbrough took the job as TCADA's executive director earlier
this year, though the Austin-based agency was in turmoil because of a
serious budget shortfall.

He wanted to help reduce the number of people in the alcohol and drug abuse
pipeline.

"There's a whole lot of young people ... that, if we have the right message
and we have it early, then we can keep these people out of the pipeline,"
Kimbrough said.

Alcohol and drug abuse programs also can keep young inmates in Texas
Department of Criminal Justice facilities from returning to prison, he said.

"I'm in the public safety business. Everybody that we keep from getting in
the pipeline, that we stop from dabbling (with drugs), that we turn around
in prison, that person is no longer a threat to my son or my daughter or my
wife, or your son or your daughter or your wife," Kimbrough said.

He was appointed TCADA executive director Feb. 1. In November, the agency
revealed a budget shortfall that affected local substance abuse prevention
agencies such as the East Texas council. TCADA went through six executive
directors, three boards and one conservatorship in six years before he came
on board, Kimbrough said. The agency administers federal block grant funds
for the state of Texas.

For years, TCADA relied on an annual $125 million block grant from the
federal government plus a large pool of unspent money from previous
allocations, Kimbrough said. The agency thought it had about $33 million in
this "savings account" in 1999, but the figure actually was $8 million, he
said.

When the shortfall was discovered, the agency had to cut its grants to
local councils back to 1999 levels, Kimbrough said. Because the Texas
Legislature has given the agency $32 million in extra funds during the past
seven months, it has been able to maintain 1999 funding levels for fiscal
year 2001, which began Sept. 1, he said.

The Legislature seems willing to continue giving TCADA $20 million annually
for the next couple of years to keep total funding at $145 million,
Kimbrough said.

Kimbrough said he has reorganized the agency, cutting staff from about 250
people to about 150 people.

He praised the work of one-time Longview resident Alice Day, former program
director of the Longview Drug Task Force, now Partners in Prevention. Day
heads up TCADA's program division.

"She's a good soul. She's a good spirit. She has contributed mightily to
the reorganization," Kimbrough said.

He pledged TCADA will work hard to provide funding to councils "so that you
are empowered to talk to these young people and make a difference in their
lives."

The East Texas council is a model for others around the state, Kimbrough said.

He previously served as the director of the Texas Commission on Private
Security and has experience as an attorney in both the public and private
sectors. Kimbrough also was elected county judge in Bee County, where he
was an assistant district attorney and county attorney.

At Thursday's dinner the council gave community service awards to Pine Tree
Independent School District, represented by Superintendent Joe Dan Lee,
because of its support of the "Focus on Youth" and "Every 15 Minutes"
programs, and to Mike Lee, owner of Guthrie Creek, where the council's new
Longview offices are located, for his help in remodeling the property for
the council.

Leslie "Buck" Elmore received the volunteer of the year award for his help
in setting up computers and teaching staff and volunteers how to use them.

The council is celebrating 35 years of providing substance abuse services
for Gregg, Anderson, Camp, Cherokee, Harrison, Henderson, Marion, Morris,
Panola, Rusk, Upshur and Wood counties. The council is a nonprofit United
Way agency offering education, prevention and screening services for
problems related to the abuse of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.